Systemwide energy return on investment in a sustainable transition towards net zero power systems
Abstract The Glasgow Climate Pact articulated the vital importance of renewables in reducing emissions on the way to net-zero pledges. During the power sector transition, foreseeing conditions affecting the plausibility of pathway options is crucial for specifying an optimal system development strat...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-01-01
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Series: | Nature Communications |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44232-9 |
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author | Hasret Sahin A. A. Solomon Arman Aghahosseini Christian Breyer |
author_facet | Hasret Sahin A. A. Solomon Arman Aghahosseini Christian Breyer |
author_sort | Hasret Sahin |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Abstract The Glasgow Climate Pact articulated the vital importance of renewables in reducing emissions on the way to net-zero pledges. During the power sector transition, foreseeing conditions affecting the plausibility of pathway options is crucial for specifying an optimal system development strategy. This study examines the net energy performance of nine decarbonisation global energy transition scenarios until 2050 by applying a newly developed systemwide energy return on investment (EROI) model. All scenarios result in an EROI value above the upper limit of the net energy cliff, expected to be around 10. EROI trends heavily depend on transition paths. Once achieving higher renewable energy shares begin requiring significant enabling technologies, EROI continually declines as the shares increase. Shortening the transition period leads to a sharper declining of EROI, which stabilises after achieving 100% renewables. The vulnerability arising from natural gas and oil depletions may have worst impact on EROI of fossil fuels dominated systems. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-08T16:16:54Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-faa7a29981ec4397b245ed30763a848b |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2041-1723 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-08T16:16:54Z |
publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
publisher | Nature Portfolio |
record_format | Article |
series | Nature Communications |
spelling | doaj.art-faa7a29981ec4397b245ed30763a848b2024-01-07T12:34:40ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-01-0115111510.1038/s41467-023-44232-9Systemwide energy return on investment in a sustainable transition towards net zero power systemsHasret Sahin0A. A. Solomon1Arman Aghahosseini2Christian Breyer3School of Energy Systems, LUT UniversitySchool of Energy Systems, LUT UniversitySchool of Energy Systems, LUT UniversitySchool of Energy Systems, LUT UniversityAbstract The Glasgow Climate Pact articulated the vital importance of renewables in reducing emissions on the way to net-zero pledges. During the power sector transition, foreseeing conditions affecting the plausibility of pathway options is crucial for specifying an optimal system development strategy. This study examines the net energy performance of nine decarbonisation global energy transition scenarios until 2050 by applying a newly developed systemwide energy return on investment (EROI) model. All scenarios result in an EROI value above the upper limit of the net energy cliff, expected to be around 10. EROI trends heavily depend on transition paths. Once achieving higher renewable energy shares begin requiring significant enabling technologies, EROI continually declines as the shares increase. Shortening the transition period leads to a sharper declining of EROI, which stabilises after achieving 100% renewables. The vulnerability arising from natural gas and oil depletions may have worst impact on EROI of fossil fuels dominated systems.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44232-9 |
spellingShingle | Hasret Sahin A. A. Solomon Arman Aghahosseini Christian Breyer Systemwide energy return on investment in a sustainable transition towards net zero power systems Nature Communications |
title | Systemwide energy return on investment in a sustainable transition towards net zero power systems |
title_full | Systemwide energy return on investment in a sustainable transition towards net zero power systems |
title_fullStr | Systemwide energy return on investment in a sustainable transition towards net zero power systems |
title_full_unstemmed | Systemwide energy return on investment in a sustainable transition towards net zero power systems |
title_short | Systemwide energy return on investment in a sustainable transition towards net zero power systems |
title_sort | systemwide energy return on investment in a sustainable transition towards net zero power systems |
url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44232-9 |
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